Judicial Watch Statement on SCOTUS Ruling in Texas Department of Housing v. Inclusive Communities Project

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton made the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling today in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, et al. v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., in which it upheld a federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) interpretation that imposes liability on a state housing decision that disparately impacts certain minorities, despite the absence of evidence of any discriminatory intent:

Today’s Supreme Court “disparate impact” decision in the case of Texas Department of Housing v. Inclusive Communities Project is confused and, as the Court did in its Burwell decision, endorses the Executive Branch’s radical racial rewrite of our federal housing law.  The Obama administration unlawfully changed federal housing anti-discrimination law to prohibit practices that result in a disparate impact on minorities.  In fact, the law prohibits actions only taken because of race, not actions that happen to disproportionately impact certain races.  Unfortunately, this judicial activist decision further enshrines the intellectually impoverished concept of race into the law, it furthers a culture of racial and ethnic politics in American public life, and perpetuates racial and ethnic resentment and intolerance in American society.  In fact, the only way to treat the troubled concept of “race” in the law should be to absolutely prohibit its use as a basis for making decisions affecting individuals or groups.  Conveniently, such a prohibition is precisely what the Constitution already requires.  And, as Judicial Watch has alleged and as Justice Thomas implies in his dissent, the Obama administration corruptly influenced the Supreme Court’s consideration of this issue and has tainted today’s ruling.

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